Nintendo loses $21m case over controllers
Nintendo of America Inc. was ordered to pay a small East Texas gaming company $21 million Wednesday for infringing on a patent while designing controllers for its popular Wii and GameCube systems. A federal jury found in favor of Anascape Ltd. in the lawsuit that was originally filed in 2006. Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta said the company will seek an appeal and expects the court to reduce the award “significantly.” The jury found that Nintendo infringed on Anascape’s patent while designing its Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube controllers.
Scibettra said Nintendo was pleased no infringement was found with the motion-sensing technology used in its wandlike Wii and Nuncheck controllers, which mimic movements by users in games such as tennis and boxing. Attorneys for Anascape did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tyler-based Anascape also sued Microsoft Corp. for patent infringements on game controllers but reached an agreement with the company before the start of the trial against Nintendo, The Lufkin Daily News reported. Microsoft said in a statement that terms of the settlement reached May 1 were confidential.
Source: CNN, AP
Comments(36)
they deserve it…
i wanted sum lol
@ 1, how do they deserve it? The problem is with the patent system- it allows people to sit on patents, no matter how generic or general, and do nothing, whilst others do all the hard work. They can then go and sue them for profit…
1. Patent something.
2 ?
3. Profit!
Nintendo sucks anyways!!
Yea well nintendo has sucked since the 80’s so who cares….
Yep…Nintendo is dead.
After the hype is over with this wii thingy it will die again.
But this time i hope it’s for good.
you idiots do realize that nintendo is older then your precious sony or M$ not to mention. they will be around for along time.
technology patients suck, but company fanbois even more.
Sony is dead, the ps3 sucks a hell load of balls…
Nintendo has provided innovation for years… the n64 is probably still the best console ever and the wii and DS cater to people who no even thought would want to play games?
How are they failing?
This is another case of the broken and corrupt patent system. The patent in question, actually had prior art, therefore, should of never even been granted. The patent system needs to be done away with, it’s does nothing but hold back technology, waste court time, and waste a ton of money.
lol @8 “mat_de_b”, Sony is not dead, you’re talking about Sony’s Gaming industries. You think Sony only serves one purpose? well you’re wrong. Nintendo on the other hand only has it’s market on games, and that’s its more likely for them to disappear. Your definition of Sony being “DEAD” needs some revising.
The problem is that Nintendo has been riding on Mario and Zelda for too long. I don’t think they have the staying power that games like Halo and Final Fantasy have. They need a new break out franchise.
Oh and sony will never die. They won the Blu-Ray war, the price is falling, oh and… FF13…FF13…FF13…
Lets face it the snes was the finest console ever created Nintendo are masters in console devolopment i don’t see big players like that disapearing it just won’t happen.Think sony has its problems good console but rubbish games.And microsoft well they’ll be around console devolopment for the next thousand years if we don’t destroy ourselves first.I think the patent system is wrong but $21mill is small change to vast companys like nintendo so who cares.
I patented a controller joystick that mounts on your crotch. I figure gamers would be comfortable in that position because that’s how they spend half their time.
@13
About not seeing big players disappearing, remember SEGA anyone?
Good. Very good
Sony and MS are asses as they only stuck their business in gaming after seeing Nintendo’s and Sega’s successes.
Without nintendo there would be no gaming industry today folks. All of you Halo guys can shove that game up your asses. So nintendo gets a bad rap from you guys because they’re trying to innovate the way you control games?
The only thing im disappointed with Nintendo today is the hardware capabilities the wii and ds have compared to its competitors and the amount of shovelware 3rd parties release on their systems
@15
Newsflash SEGA isn’t gone. It just dosn’t make consoles anymore but it’s far from gone.
@17 You’re an idiot. That sir is a fact.
Nintendo approached Sony to design a CD based add-on for the SNES and then later cancelled the deal in secret. Then later at a game show Nintendo announced they were cancelling the agreement w/ Sony and going with Phillips.
Nintendo stabbed Sony in the back.
Sony went ahead and re-designed the add-on and released it as the Playstation. Sony got the last laugh bcuz they kicked Nintendo’s ass for 2 generations of gaming. Still the Wii has lower software sales than all 3 of the current gen platforms. You noob.
my rock-solid ATARI will destroy all your next-gen BS cheap chinese-made plastic crap.
Go to hell, fanboys
Everyone shut up about console wars; I don’t care what side you’re on…take it somewhere else!
who cares about the ps3 this and xbox 360 that. when sega bought out the gamegear to rival the gameboy , it still died out even though it was more advanced. dont cry about the wii not being “next-gen” just because your scared you made the wrong choice forking out on a fortune on a PS or xbox. take it like a b!tch and stop facking complaining like a bunch of whinney geeks.
Wow!
A lot of anger over here… remind’s me of me in younger years…:)
actaully … Nintendo … Which is as some said here… older than most…s’pecially Sony and MS… – BTW (MS – not a real player… just a money maker… they just don’t have the soul sorry – even an evil soul is better than none…)
Sometimes … even the best and the kindest or even a “nice” corp. that is viewed as Good .. could mess up and steal un or intentially a design… and sometimes the big moneymakers should just pay up…
As a SEGA Player myself… I have never loved nintendo alltough allways apperciated their console’s and games … I must say that for mentioning SEGA – as a forgotten name is not right not quite and not sprite….
SEGA is a major player in the consoles including PC… and les not forget… the best ARCADE maker and builder that have ever been…. – they have always been experts on gameplay – even when compared to a compatible Nintendo ver… the game might have looked better and even sounded better but the gameplay was always theirs….
They were losing in the console wars and decided to keep doing what they do best… make excellent games!
anyone played the “The Club” ?! or seen the new – http://www.rlslog.net/iron-man-detonation/ – iron man!?
as far as i am aware nes has no gangster games so looses hands down! first played the 50 cent game on xbox which is the way forward
On one patents should have a limited lifespan, look at the jpeg patent case in 07, that would have sucked had it had legs.
Although if I was the dude who created something awesome I may want to reap the rewards of such. Some compromise needs to be reached. These days 21mil is not a huge some of money so their case was probably valid.
@7 Leomdaj;
You are absolutely right..They have been around for longer but seriously, they need to get with the times. No one realy cares for Nintendo like they used to. It’s all about next gen gaming now. The Wii is just a gimmick.
The wii is the number 1 selling console in the world by far.
patents are simply a way for the haves to consolidate their edge over the ‘have-nots’. I know nothing of this case other than the article but I can’t help but wonder if it’s success thus far isn’t due to some M$ ploy to try and take down Nintendo. You see while anyone can take out a patent few can afford to defend a patent that has been infringed upon. The corporations usually fight all the way not only because bringing in a brigade of expensive lawyers generally works but because other small guy claimants get discouraged. So the fact that M$ settled may have been a way to ensure that the plaintiff had enough money to fight nintendo all the way.
This wouldn’t have been about the money – $16 mill is a lot to us but not much the gaming investors. sullying the nintendo brand would have been what M$ was aiming for.
Patent is just another form of ‘intellectual property’ an artificial construct aimed at ensuring that ordinary peeps are powerless when dealing with corporations. Successful corruption of pols has ensured that few of our ‘leaders’ anywhere in the world have taken action against a concept that will eventually erode the power and purpose of sovereign nation states. That would be a noble ideal except the plan is to replace nation states with huge corporations who make their own rules independent of what ordinary humans think or want. maybe peeps will wake up soon and see that the response to previous generations fighting for the right of all humans to select their decision makers has been subverted by moving decisions outta the hands of governments, but I wouldn’t count on it.
“the wii is just a gimmick” LOL don’t ya think you might have lost an eye somewhere? I don’t care about silliness like brand loyalty – a construct by corporations to persuade drongos to waste money, but you gotta give respect to Nintendo for the wii, because they genuinely took a risk when they were on the bones of their ass at it worked!. I moved our family from sony to nintendo cause they innovated. Sony and M$ gave the peeps more of the same ie bigger more powerful hardware, but with virtually no major advances, no lateral thinking, just up the disk standard same as they did on the previous generation.
I dunno if the wii has any more ‘grunt’ than the last generation of consoles, certainly the graphics don’t seem much better, but they made playing games much more accessible, much more of a thing a group of people do together than the other two who reinforced the image of flabby, grumpy and isolated individuals, eating too much junk food, playing nasty games while they worked on their playstation tan. The cry for more power in consoles is so similar to the sorts of statements made by the penisly challenged when they buy an over-powered car that it’s too obvious to make a decent joke about.
I had to larf at the ninny who said that nintendo don’t make gangsta games. I expect nintendo do make as many of the kind of silly plot bereft and gameplay deprived shooters as the other two, but the fact they also make games that are witty and genuinely innovative that don’t require more blood and splatter to sell can overshadow their boring nasty games.
Sony and M$ made the wrong call when they gambled on peeps wanting more of the same and need to rethink their strategy.
American’s suing? surely not
/sarcasm
Old Commie Pinko Degenerate I have seen no recent gangster rap games on nes
50 Cent: Bulletproof is a video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox platformsThe game was to have been released for the Nintendo GameCube but was cancelled.
Def Jam: Icon & Pimp My Ride are also not on nes!
p.S if anyone wants any trainers I have loads
Here we go again. The evangelical “my favorite company is better then your favorite company” war.
Get over it! No one really cares who your favorite is!
haha wow you little kids need to understand history. nintendo wasn’t just good in the 80’s, it ruled the 90’s too. Nintendo will not go the route of Sega and become a game developer only. The WII is such a family friendly console that so many middle american families will keep giving nintendo their money.
Unfortunately this is nothing new when it comes to tech patents. At least there was a comment that wasnt about nintendo sucking or ruling, thanks #3.
I love all gaming consoles, & find it amusing when you all start arguing over which one is best. They all have some cool games, & it simply comes down to taste, when choosing which system to purchase. The morons out there will always want to put someone else’s taste down, if it differs from their own.
very true. people must realize that not every gamer is a teen or adult, and different consoles marketed to different audiences.
do you want your kids to play GTA or the Wii kiddie games??? wii is great for kids, and PS3 and the rest are for adults. don’t compare ps3 to nintendo ever, cause there might be some gamnes that show up on each platform, still, the ps3 is marketed towards adults and grown ups, while the wii is there for you to play with your 6 yrs old.